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In 2007, the President’s Task Force on Climate Change was formed to develop a set of recommendations for how the university should address greenhouse gas emissions. The Task Force focused on three primary areas: Tactics and Strategies for emissions reductions, Research and Innovation, and Community Partnerships. The Task Force established a goal to reduce emissions by 51% by 2025 from a 2008 baseline. After reviewing the Task Force report, President Daniels asked for a detailed plan for reaching the recommendations included in the Task Force report, which resulted in the Climate Change Leadership for the Future- Implementation Plan for Achieving GHG Reduction Goals.
Since 2008, Johns Hopkins University’s emissions have dropped by 90,129 metric tons, or nearly 30% below where we started. Therefore, we are on track to reach our 51% reduction goal by 2022. The Office of Sustainability Annual Report details achievements to date.
Three common approaches to reducing fossil-fuel based energy and greenhouse emissions include:
Efficiency guides the decisions in JHU’s Facilities and Design & Construction offices. All renovations and new construction projects are pushed to design to use the least amount of energy possible based on the program and uses of the building with the current building energy codes as a standard. We are accomplishing this by:
Technology is being built into the building infrastructure to conserve energy automatically where possible, and built into smarter system designs that better support occupant needs without wasting energy. Examples of our energy conservation initiatives:
On Earth Day 2019, President Daniels announced JHU’s offsite solar power purchase agreement that will generate nearly two-thirds of the University’s electricity consumption, 250,000 MWh. This offsite solar power will go online in Spring, 2021. To learn more about this solar PPA, please visit the Hub’s article.
Johns Hopkins is also home to one of the largest solar projects in the City of Baltimore. Photovoltaic (PV) panels atop seven buildings collect solar radiation and convert it directly into electricity, generating 1 million kWh of clean renewable energy each year, or enough electricity to power roughly 112 average households. The project was the first major renewable energy system installed at Hopkins, and it is also the first energy project that includes academic divisions on multiple campuses. The Sustainability Office is investigating additional opportunities for Solar PV on several other buildings and parking structures.
The Ralph S. O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute based in Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering, is the university’s focal point for energy-related research and educational programs. Founded in 2021, the institute brings together the extensive energy-related activities already underway at the university and focuses on developing an impactful program to address the transformation of the energy sector to help address climate change.
See how much solar energy is being generated right now on the live Solar Dashboard.
Cogeneration (Combined Heat and Power) and Trigeneration (Combined Cooling, Heating and Power) are more efficient than conventional electric power generation because almost all of the waste heat that is generated can be captured and used on campus. Similar to driving a car, burning fuel in an engine, and able to capture the waste heat to warm the cabin in the winter, we burn cleaner natural gas in generators and capture the waste heat. The university generates an impressive 28% of its own electricity right on campus utilizing energy efficient Cogeneration and Trigeneration equipment, located at the Homewood, Mount Washington and the East Baltimore campuses. When running at full capacity, these gas turbines and engines will generate over 20 Megawatts of electricity and convert natural gas into electricity and heat at efficiencies approaching 75%, nearly 50% better than grid electricity.
There are also initiatives in place to reduce electricity consumption in our cooling plants. In the winter, when our internal cooling loads are small, outside air can be used to make chilled water using less energy than electric chillers. We can also make ice in the summer for use when the utility requests that we shut down chillers to reduce electric loads. The university has Ice Storage at Eastern, Homewood, Mount Washington and the Applied Physics Lab. There is free cooling capability at Mount Washington and Homewood.